ते पुन्हा आले...

It's a Saturday morning, and you are having your morning tea.
The newspaper is lying on the table; untouched, but you are not interested to even peep into it - कारण रोज फक्त बैठकाच होतात, निकाल कही लागत नाही...

So, you switch on the idiot-box, and while changing channels, you coincidentally tune into a Marathi News show (yes, in this TRP Hungry era, News broadcast is also a kind of a show...)

”सरकारबांधणी अजून कगदावरंच... पण मुख्यमंत्री मात्र, एक मुंबईकरंच होणार, हे निश्चित!” the news anchor reads. You are not bothered, you wish that they should come to a decision soon. After all, it's almost a month that the results of the election are out and no government is formed yet. And it's a bad sign for the जानता to know that the administration is running without a CM.

But then, you tell yourself, “मित्रा, तू कशाला टेन्शन घेतोस, ती powerबाज लोकं बघतील काय करायचं ते... तू तुझं बघ आधी...” and you go to your favourite morning destination, after all, चाय पीने से pressure बनता है, भाई!

After enjoying your time in the washroom, you see that the same news show is still on but, there is one significant change in the Breaking News which was flashed a few minutes back and that which is shot right now.

All equations had changed...

बघतो तर काय,
ते पुन्हा आले...

तरीच पु.ल. म्हणून गेले होते,
“खरा नागपूरकर हा नागपूरला राहत नाही...”

असो,
पण politics काय असतं
आणि, ५६ सीट व ५६ इंची छातीत काय फ़रक असतो,
हे आज समजलं...

P.S. When I am entirely apolitical,
जे सुचले, ते लिहिले...

With only one hope that this alliance of completely different ideologies should last for the complete 5-year term.

JAI HIND!
JAI MAHARASHTRA!

What's in a Name?

I had once said that whenever any business becomes popular, other small companies try to harness its brand power by using the same brand name. WhatsApp Ladies Tailor seen in my vicinity was one such example.

The same logic is being applied in the case of our cities as well. Especially when you are in Mumbai, places like Parel and Lower Parel or Worli and Upper Worli for that matter have become common household names.

The latest obsession among the cities is Thane!

I vividly remember the days when the city of Thane meant going till the Teen Haath Naka and coming back but that’s almost two decades ago. Today’s Ghodbunder Road (or the G.B. Road as they call it) was a mere jungle then. (I wonder if no trees were cut down to carve a city out of Ghodbunder because I don’t recall any protests or agitations happening as they are now happening on account of Aarey! Maybe because Social Media was not popular then. But, that’s a different story for some other time)

Though Thane is not a part of the Mumbai district; being at a centre of Mumbai and since all the major cities like Borivali, Navi Mumbai and even the far fetched cities like Kalyan-Dombivli (villages-as the South Bombaywallah tend to call them) being nearby, everybody wants to live in Thane. But with the real estate prices going sky-high, it's not everybody’s cup of tea to buy a dream home in this city.

So to lure the common man, builders have come up with an idea of constructing houses in the outskirts of the city and calling them with some fancy names.

That's why you see Godrej calling some outer area of the city as Thane-Extension and Lodha calling the same as Upper Thane!

By the way, just while entering the Republic of Kalyan, you see The New BKC!

No, not the Bandra Kurla Complex, it's the BHIWANDI KALYAN CORRIDOR!

If Shakespeare would have lived to see this day, he would have definitely said,

“It’s all in the Name!”